Columbia Sportswear has joined forces with Chinese authorities in Jinjiang and Shishi Cities, within the Fujian province, to raid factories producing counterfeit Columbia Sportswear apparel.
As part of an ongoing, aggressive campaign to stamp out counterfeiters and protect Columbia's brand, the recent raids resulted in the seizure of more than 8,100 pieces of counterfeit sports apparel. Items seized were jackets and pants in several designs.
“Counterfeiters continue to produce copies of Columbia's product and get caught,” said Tim Boyle, President and Chief Executive Officer of Columbia. “We will not sit back while others profit by deceiving customers with the sale of low-quality products claiming to be authentic Columbia merchandise. We have stepped up our campaign to stop counterfeits at the source — which means working with authorities to raid, seize, and destroy product while prosecuting counterfeiters to the full extent of the law.”
Due to the large number of counterfeit labels found at the factories, Columbia is encouraging Chinese authorities to transfer the cases to the Public Security Bureau for criminal sanctions.
Columbia employees, independent sales representatives and distributors around the world are trained to identify counterfeit products. From its headquarters in Portland, Columbia coordinates a multi-faceted, global, anti-counterfeiting program and initiates numerous operations each year.
